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AUTHENTICITY OF DOCUMENTS CONCERNING A DISCOVERY 

IN NORTH AMERICA CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN 

MADE BY YERRAZZANO. 



READ BEFORE THE 



NEW- YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4th, 1864. 



By BUCKINGHAM' SMITH, |g k ,-)& 1( 



>s- 






NEW-YORK: 
PRINTED BY JOHN F. TROW. 

M DCCC LXIT. 



'jry-tr* 






^9S,y^O^ 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S64, by 

GEOEGE II. MOORE, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of 

New York. 












\o 



TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES PRINTED. 



TO 

HENRY, C. MURPHY 

OP LONG-ISLAND, 

THIS CRITIQUE 

IS EESPECIFCILY DEDICATED 

BY HIS FRIEND, 

BUCKINGHAM SMITH. 



AN INQUIRY, ETC 



The earliest discovery of the French in America is 
attributed to Giovanni Verrazzano. He is reported to 
have made more than one voyage to the northern conti- 
nent. As an officer in the privateer service of Francis 
First, or corsair, as the Spaniards aver, under the nom de 
guerre of Juan Florentin, he gained great celebrity. He 
was the first who appeared on the seas in the neighbor- 
hood of the Canaries, since the conquest of those islands, 
to depredate upon Spanish shipping, seizing in 1522 upon 
seven vessel loads of colonists, with their goods and stores, 
from Cadiz ; but being forced to release them by some 
armed barges sent out from the harbor of Luz, which en- 
countered him at the Cape of Gando, he fled northward.f 
In the year 1523 he captured two vessels coming from the 
Azores, on their passage from Mexico to Spain, in charge 

* Eelatione di Giovanni da Verrazzano Fiorentino, della terra per lui scoperta 
in norae di sua Maesta, scritta in Dieppa, adi 8. Luglio. M.D.XXII1I. (Navi- 
gazioni et Viaggi da Giovanni-Battista Kamusio. III.vol. fol. Venetia. To- 
mo III., M.D.LVL) 

The voyage of John de Verazzano, along the coast of North America, from 
Carolina to Newfoundland, a. d. 1524. Translated from the original Italian 
by Joseph G. Cogswell, Esq., Member of the N. Y. Historical Society, &c. 
(Collections of the New York Historical Society. Second series. Vol. I. New 
York. 1841.) 

Lettera di Fernando Carli a suo padre. (Archivo Storico Italiano ossia rac- 
colta di opere e documenti fiuora inediti o divenuti rarissimi risguardanti la 
storia d'ltalia. Appendice. Tomo IX. Firenze. Gio. Pietro Vieusseux, diret- 
tore-editore al suo Gabinetto Scientifico-Litterario. 1853.) 

t Viera Noticias de la Historia General da las Islas de Canaria. 1TY3- Tomo 
TI. § xli. He wrote on the authority of early and original papers. 



of Alonzo de Avila, which were in part freighted with the 
second gift of Cortez and his followers sent to Charles 
Fifth. It was the richest of everything to be found in 
New Spain, writes the conquistador Bernal Diaz del Cas- 
tillo ; it consisted of the armor and jewels of Moctezuma, 
Quauhtemoc, and of the great lords of the country. These 
prizes enabled the captor to make presents of interest and 
extraordinary value to the king and nobility of France, 
and in the same year to return to sea with a well-appointed 
fleet. 

The introduction to the knowledge of the public, of a 
discovery in America made by Verrazzano, was given in 
the form of a letter purporting to come from his hand, 
dated at Dieppe, the 8th day of July of the year 1524. 
It was directed to the king of France, who was at that 
time with an army on the way to Provence, to the people 
of which department he had written from Amboise, near 
Tours, on the 22d day of June, that he was steadily ad- 
vancing to their relief. A few months later, Louise, the 
mother of Francis, was invested by him with the regency 
on his way to Italy ; and Philippe de Chabot in the next 
year was appointed Grand Admiral of France, a position 
he continued to fill thenceforth for nearly a quarter of a 
century. The publication of Verrazzano's letter was 
made for the first time in 1556, at Venice, in the third 
volume of Kamusio, a year before the decease of that well- 
known collector of historical narrative. Francis I. had 
then been dead nine years, Chabot, the Minister of Marine, 
fourteen years, and the ambitious Louise still longer. 

In the reign of this chivalric prince, a period of more 
than thirty-two years, in which literature and science 
flourished, the arts of peace as well as of war were encour- 
aged, and all that appertained to glory was cherished, the 
founding of colonies was attempted, and one was success- 
fully established in Canada ; yet no annal, or document 
of any sort of that time, has ever been adduced in proof of 



the discovery claimed to have been made by this ancient 
letter. In the same age, from the year 1523 to 1534, an 
illustrious Florentine, Julius of Meclicis, held the papal 
throne ; and though leagued with France, and an enricher 
of the library of the Vatican,*among his many letters (those 
to the king and Charles Fifth, written in the year 1527 
still existing also), he left no allusion to that event. 

In a species of book tradition coming to our times 
through Tiraboschi and the Biographie Vniverselle, the 
memory of a paper by Verrazzano has been perpetuated, 
to be found in the Strozzi library of Florence. An 
American, who examined it some five and twenty years 
since in the Migliabechia collection, to which it had been 
transferred, states the character of the writing to be of the 
sixteenth century, that with it is a letter of Fernando 
Carli, dated at Lyons, directed to his'father at Florence, 
and also in the volume other miscellaneous matter in the 
same hand.* Hence it appears that this letter to the 
king of France is not the original manuscript, that it is 
written in the Italian language, and bears the signature 
Janus Veeeazzanus. In substance it is nearly the same 
as the transcript, signed Giouanni Yeeeazzano, for such 
that published long before by Eamusio is supposed to 
be, who says in reference to it, that he had not been able 
to procure anything more on the subject. 

Some of those differences will prove instructive, unless 
we shall adopt the authority of Alcedo in his Biblioteca 
Americana, who states that the letter was originally writ- 
ten in French, which will account for the marked differ- 
ences of style and language of the two translations into 
Italian. No such inference, however, is borne out from 
anything to be found in the letter of Carli. Upon the 
strong features in the account, as they appear in both ver- 
sions, and in view of the circumstances of the time at 

* North American Review, for October, 1837 : Article—" The Life and Voy- 
ages of Verrazzano." 



8 

which it purports to have been written, we may judge, in 
the light of oar later experience, of its probable authen- 
ticity and truth. 

The letter of Verrazzano begins by his informing the 
king that he had not written to him respecting the storm 
encountered on the northern coast, with the four ships sent 
out by his order to discover new lands, which had com- 
pelled him to put into Brittany in distress, with only the 
Normanda and Dalfina, and having refitted these vessels 
there, he had taken them, well armed, on a cruise along the 
coast of Spain ; of all which his Majesty must have heard, 
he continues, as well as of his later plan of proceeding to 
accomplish the purpose of the voyage with a single vessel. 

According to the recital, the Dalfina took her depar- 
ture on the 17th day of January, of the year 1524, from the 
islet, deserto scopulo propinquo alia isola, southeast of 
Madeira, with fifty men, having arms and subsistence for 
eight months. Sailing to the westward, with a light 
breeze, at the end of twenty-five days, having run eight 
hundred leagues, she rode out a hurricane, through the 
Divine assistance and the good fortune of her name 
(dauphiness), as violent as good ship ever weathered. 
Pursuing a course now a little northwardly of west, about 
the 7th of March Verrazzano made a land, as he declares, 
never before seen. It appeared to be very low ; and 
drawing nigh, to within a quarter of a league of the shore, 
fires were seen to rise there, whence it was known to be 
inhabited. He followed the coast, stretching to the south, 
in search of a port where he might survey the country ; 
but finding no such place that afforded a secure harbor, 
at the end of fifty leagues the course of the vessel was 
turned in the opposite direction. Drawing in with the 
shore, a boat was sent to land, which the natives came 
out to meet, and then fled away ; but being reassured, 
they returned, offering food to the strangers and pointing 
out a safe place for the boat. There is nothing unusual, 



i 



9 

save as to their color, in the account given of the natives. 
In this instance the hair is described as black, not very- 
long, and tied back upon the head in the form of a little 
tail. 

The coast is described as of fine sand, rising about 
fifteen feet into hills with a circumference of fifty paces. 
A little way back were several arms of the sea, where the 
water rose through islets, washing the banks on both sides. 
Just over the sandy shore appeared beautiful plains and 
forests of immense trees, in some places open, in others 
dense, having a variety of colored foliage. There were 
palms, laurels, cypresses, and other trees unknown in Eu- 
rope, which, for the want of opportunity, were not examin- 
ed. This was in latitude 34° north of the equator, the 
land first seen twenty-eight miles above Cape Fear. Here 
were deer, hares, and other animals, and a great variety of 
the feathered tribes ; the air was pure and salubrious, 
free from extremes of temperature. Lakes and ponds of 
running water abounded. The sky was clear ; little rain 
fell ; and if at any time fogs or mists were driven in by 
the south wind, they were soon dissipated and the earth 
made bright again. 

Continuing along the shore to the west, as the vessel 
advanced the inhabitants kindled many fires. At one 
place, fresh water having been sent .for, a young sailor 
swam from the boat toward the shore with some presents, 
and half drowned by the surf was rescued by the na- 
tives. He reported that they were black, with shiny 
skins, like those which had been seen before. 

Still following the coast, which stretched to the north, 
at the end of fifty leagues the voyagers came to a beauti- 
ful country covered with the largest forests. Going on 
shore, the natives were found to have fled, even at the dis- 
tance of two leagues from the sea ; a few only were found 
concealed, from among whom a little boy was chosen to 
take to France. In complexion they were fairer than the 



10 

others, and the women, for they saw no men, wore a 
covering made of a certain plant hanging from the branch- 
es of trees, which they united with thread of wild hemp. 
Their food was a kind of pulse that was plentiful and de- 
lightful in flavor, differing in color and size from that of 
France. Birds were taken in snares for food, and fish 
killed with bows of hard wood, having the arrows of reed 
pointed with bone. Many boats were seen twenty feet in 
length, made of a single log, hollowed out by burning, 
without the use of any instrument. Grapes grew wild, 
twining about trees, as the vines do in Lombardy. They 
were evidently held in estimation, as the thicket was 
found carefully removed about them, to allow the fruit 
better to ripen. Koses, lilies and violets were observed, 
and some flowers that were not known. 

After having remained three days riding at anchor on 
the coast, the course was again taken up, running to the 
northeast along the shore for a hundred leagues, the vessels 
sailing in the daytime only, and casting anchor at night. 
In all that country, extending the distance of two hundred 
leagues, no stone was found of any sort. 

As the first land recognizable by the description, the 
entrance to New York harbor, now approaches, it will be 
a convenient moment to look back over the first half of 
the narrative, from which the most probable facts have 
already been recited. The general character of the land 
and its vegetation, could have been so correctly described 
only from actual information ; other statements will now 
be given that have been omitted for their improbability or 
their error. As to distances, it is proper to remember 
that little confidence can be placed in early accounts ; the 
log was unknown until about 1577, and after it was dis- 
covered, was not correctly marked until the year 1635. 
During the interval, vessels depending on it would under- 
rate their true distance one fifth. In sailing along the 
shore, after making the land in 34° of latitude, having the 



11 

port to starboard, as trie coast thence trends southwesterly, 
the vessel could not, in fifty leagues, have gone over a de- 
gree and a half southward. 

The Dalfina sailed two thirds of the voyage across the 
ocean from the Desertas, coast of Africa, in latitude 32° 
44', due west, until within four degrees of the Bermudas ; 
and in making the slight deviation afterwards from that 
line, which brought the landfall in 34°, her course was not 
so far from those islands, standing between 32° 8' and 32° 
34', that she might not have been in sight of them. This 
may be of doubtful importance, that they were not dis- 
covered, particularly as the vessel encountered a storm on 
coming into the trade wind ; still it is to be remarked, 
that nothing is said which would imply a knowledge of 
their existence, although they had then been discovered 
nearly two years, a fact that could hardly escape the at- 
tention of a pilot having to move in their direction. Of 
the four courses taken, from the time of arrival, along the 
land, three of them are wrong. The vessel first sailed 
south fifty leagues, instead of southwest, and returned ; 
thence west instead of north-northwest, from Cape Henry, 
then north fifty leagues instead of northeast, and finally 
northeast one hundred leagues, sailing, for a better view 
of the land, as has been said, only by day, and favored by 
an open sky ; yet in that leisurely exploration, no cape or 
inlet was seen, no place named, no berth found, where a 
vessel could anchor in safety. Equally wide of the truth, 
in fact, is the description of the coast, as being so bold 
that within four or five fathoms of the shore there are 
twenty-four feet of water at all tides, and the depth con- 
stantly increasing in a uniform proportion toward the sea. 
These are not such mistakes as could have been made by 
a sailor taking no more than an ordinary interest in a new 
country along which he was passing for the first time ; 
they are more like such facts as might be invented and 
thrown in among the observations found in the memoran- 



12 

dura book of a landsman. What would have come within 
his vision is well portrayed : the sand hills, the absence of 
stone that he could discover, the grand forests having the 
laurel and the palm, the wild roses and heartsease, the 
aroma of vegetation, the cane arrows, the beasts, the birds 
and the means for taking them, the noble grape vines 
ascending, and the long moss hanging from the oaks, of 
which the women made their partial garments, using the 
thread of the wild aloe — these are naturally told without 
exaggeration or error, as they would address themselves to 
the senses. But once he saw some creeks, where the boat 
upon a time went to land. The complexions of the Indians 
are none of his coloring. The fault, thirty years after the 
paper pretends to have been written, we may suppose had 
'■come within the knowledge of Eamusio, and does not ap- 
pear to have escaped his attention ; but otherwise he may 
Taave seen no reason to discredit the paper, and believed it 
a memorial worth preserving. Hence it is, perhaps, that 
the natives, in the account he published, are not neri, 
black, nor differing in little from " Ethiopians," but are 
berretini, brown, not much differing from " Saracens ; " 
no more are they, in another region, biancliisimo, very 
white, but rather bronzino, of a coppery hue. So of the 
grapes that were often eaten and found to be sweet ; as 
the voyagers discovered the country in March, and were 
back again to France early in July, before the fruit could 
have been more than half grown, they are spoken of as 
raisins. In the early part of March, the time is also 
spoken of as summer. Had the Dalfina taken her depar- 
ture from Europe at the time that voyages to the northern 
parts of America were commenced in those clays, whether 
for fishing, traffic, or on discovery, about the end of April 
or beginning of March, instead of midwinter, the " sum- 
mer " would have fallen in one of its proper months, the 
flowers might have been seen to bloom in their usual sea- 
son, the fruit eaten ripe, and the trees of colored foliage 



13 

witnessed in autumn. Thus the dates generally given in 
the letter appear to be, in relation to the matters that are 
named, three months in advance of their natural season. 

The vessel is now supposed to draw nigh to New 
York : 

" After proceeding one hundred leagues, we found a very pleasant 
ituation among some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at 
its mouth, forced its way to the sea ; from the sea to the estuary of the 
river, any ship heavily laden might pass, with the help of the tide, which 
rises eight feet. But as we were riding at anchor in a good berth, we would 
not venture up in our vessel, without a knowledge of the mouth ; therefore 
we took a boat, and entering the river, we found the country on its banks 
well peopled, the inhabitants not differing much from the others, being 
dressed out with the feathers of birds of various colors. They came to- 
wards us with evident delight, raising loud shouts of admiration, and show- 
ing us where we could most securely land with our boat. We passed up this 
river about half a league, when we found it formed a most beautiful lake 
three leagues in circuit, upon which they were rowing thirty or more of 
their small boats, from one shore to the other, filled with multitudes who 
came to see us. All of a sudden, as is wont to happen to navigators, a 
violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to our 
ship, greatly regretting to leave this region which seemed so commodious and 
delightful, and which we supposed must also contain great riches, as the 
hills showed many indications of minerals. Weighing anchor we sailed 
eighty leagues toward the east, as the coast stretched in that direction, and 
always in sight of it ; at length we discovered an island of a triangular 
form, about ten leagues from the main land, in size about equal to the 
Island of Rhodes, having many hills covered with trees, and well peopled, 
judging from the great number of fires • which we saw all around its 
shores ; we gave it the name of your Majesty's illustrious mother." 

The island just seen is considered to be Block ; and 
the description which follows is said to be an excellent 
one of Narraganset Bay and the harbor of Newport.* 

"We did not land there, as the weather was unfavorable, but proceeded 
to another place, fifteen leagues distant from the island, where we found a 



* Providence Daily Journal : article published in January 1855. The opinion, 
however, is not uniform. Dr. Belknap says that by the description the har- 
bor of New York must be intended, and Dr. Samuel Miller that it applies with 
more probability to the harbor of New York than to any other ; but he adds: 
" The truth is, there are some difficulties to be surmounted in applying the 
description to either." {Discourse before the New York Historical Soc, vol. i.) 



14 

very excellent harbor. Before entering it, we saw about twenty small boats 
full of people, who came about our ship, uttering many cries of astonish- 
ment, but they would not approach nearer than within fifty paces — * * *. 
We often went five or six leagues into the interior, and found the country 
as pleasant as is possible to conceive, adapted to cultivation of every kind, 
whether of corn, wine or oil ; there are open plains twenty-five or thirty 
leagues in extent, entirely free from trees or other hindrances, and of so 
great fertility that whatever is sown there will yield an excellent crop. On 
entering the woods, we observed that they might all be traversed by an 
army ever so numerous ; the trees of which they were composed were oaks, 
cypresses, and others unknown to Europe. We found also apples, plums, 
filberts, and many other fruits ; but all of a different kind from ours. The 
animals, which are in great numbers, as stags, deer, lynxes, and many 
other species, are taken by snares, and by bows, the latter being their chief 
implement ; their arrows are wrought with great beanty, and for the heads 
of them they use emery, jasper, hard marble, and other sharp stones, in the 
place of iron. They also use the same kind of sharp stones in cutting down 
trees, and with them they construct their boats of single logs, hollowed out 
with admirable skill, and sufficiently commodious to contain ten or twelve 
persons ; * * *. There is no doubt that they would build stately edifices if 
they had workmen as skilful as ours ; for the whole sea-coast abounds in 
shining stones, crystals, and alabaster, and for the same reason it has 
holes and retreats for animals. * * * This region is situated in the parallel 
of Rome, being 41° 40' of north latitude ; but much colder from accidental 
circumstances, and not by nature, as I shall hereafter explain to your 
Majesty, and confine myself at present to the description of its local situa- 
tion. It looks towards the south, on which side the harbor is half a league 
broad ; afterwards upon entering it, the extent between the coast and north 
is twelve leagues, and then enlarging itself it forms a very large bay twenty 
leagues in circumference, in which are five small islands, of great fertility 
and beauty, covered with large-and lofty trees. Among these islands any 
fleet, however large, might ride safely, without fear of tempests or other 
dangers. Turning towards the south, at the entrance of the harbor, on both 
sides, there are very pleasant hills, and many streams of dear water, which 
flow down to the sea. In the midst of the entrance, there is a rock of free- 
stone, formed by nature, and suitable for the construction of any kind of 
machine or bulwark for the defence of the harbor." 



The island, ten leagues from the main land, does not 
describe Block, which is not above five ; nor in size is 
it like Khodes, which is nearly one third that of Long 
Island iD area. Neither has it many hills, like that 
classic isle, nor indeed any ; it has, however, a somewhat 
triangular form, and was formerly well wooded. Its 



15 

distance from New York, instead of being eighty, is about 
forty leagues.* 

And here it may be well to take notice of a version of 
this letter in English, printed by Hakluyt in 1582, trans- 
lated from Eamusio. The text sets forth the distance of 
the island from the main land to be three leagues instead 
often, according to both the Italian copies, and on the 
margin is a note, to the effect that this is the Island of 
Claudia. The name Claude is not that of the queen mother, 
for whom the letter states the island to have been called, 
but that of the wife of the king. The introduction declares 
that the plot in the end of the book is made according to 
John Verarzanus, who had been thrice on the coast, and 
gave an excellent old map of it to Henry VIII. ; but, be 
that as it may, in the same manner as there, the island 
and coast are represented on a mapamundi of Gerardus 
Mercator in the Imperial Library of Paris, four feet by 
six in size, printed in 1569, which correspond on Blunt's 
Chart to the peninsula formed about Halifax, and to the 
shores of Nova Scotia, better than to any other lands. ' 
Thus on the coast called Norombega, is placed that island, 
east of a bay marked G. de lagus yslas, which may be that 
of Fundy (fondo ?), west of G. Doblada (costa dobla- 
da) ; and going northward come Esta he a terra dus 
Bretones: This is the land of the Bretons ; names and 
words exclusively in the Portuguese language, suggesting 
the discoveries made early in the century. 

The following is a description that answers well to the 
bold shores of Maine and New Brunswick, their rocks and 
islands, containing a fair account of the savages who 
once inhabited them. 

" Having supplied ourselves with everything necessary, on the 6th of 
May we departed from the port, and sailed one hundred and fifty leagues, 

* As there have been some errors made in printing the translation of this 
letter in the New York Historical Society collection, particularly in figures, the 
reader should refer to the original in Italian, published with it, for correction. 



16 

keeping so close to the coast as never to lose it from our sight ; the nature 
of the country appeared much the same as before, but the mountains were 
a little higher, and all in appearance rich in minerals. We did not stop 
to land, as the weather was very favorable for pursuing our voyage, and the 
country presented no variety. The shore stretched to the east, and fifty 
leagues beyond, more to the north, where we found a more elevated coun- 
try, full of very thick woods of fir trees, cypresses, and the like, indicative 
of a cold climate. The people were entirely different from others we had 
seen, whom we had found kind and gentle,, but these were so rude and bar- 
barous that we were unable, by any signs we could make, to hold communi- 
cation with them. They clothe themselves in the skins of bears, lynxes, 
seals, and other animals. Their food, as far as we could judge by several 
visits to their dwellings, is obtained by hunting and fishing, and certain 
fruits, which are a sort of root of spontaneous growth. They have no 
pulse, and we saw no signs of cultivation ; the land appears sterile and unfit 
for growing of fruit or grain of any kind. If we wished at any time to traffic 
with them, they came to the sea shore and stood upon the rocks, from which 
they lowered down by a cord to our boats beneath whatever they had to 
barter, continually crying out to us not to come nearer, and instantly de- 
manding from us that which was to be given in exchange ; they took from 
us only knives, fish-hooks, and sharpened steel. No regard was paid to our 
courtesies ; when we had nothing left to exchange with them, the men at 
our departure made the most brutal signs of disdain and contempt possible. 
Against their will we penetrated two or three leagues into the interior with 
twenty-five men ; when we came to the shore they shot at us with their 
arrows, raising the most horrible cries and afterwards fleeing to the woods. 
In their region we found nothing extraordinary except vast forests and 
some metalliferous hills, as we infer from seeing that many of the people 
wore copper ear-rings. Departing from thence, we kept along the coast, 
steering northeast, and found the country more pleasant and open, free from 
woods ; and distant in the interior we saw lofty mountains, but none which 
extended to the shore. Within fifty leagues we discovered thirty-two 
islands, all near the main land, small and of pleasant appearance, but high 
and so disposed as to afford excellent harbors and channels, as we see in 
the Adriatic Gulf, near Illyria and Dalmatia. We had no intercourse with 
the people, but we judge that they were similar in nature and usages to 
those we were last among. After sailing between east and north the dis- 
tance of one hundred and fifty leagues more, and finding our provisions 
and naval stores nearly exhausted, we took in wood and water, and deter- 
mined to return to France, having discovered 502 leagues, that is 700 
leagues, more of unknown lands." 

The foregoing passages are the most remarkable in 
the whole letter. After leaving Narraganset Bay, Ver- 
razzano sailed one hundred and fifty leagues, keeping so 
close to the shore as never to lose sight of it, and the 



17 

nature of the country appeared much the same as before ; 
consequently it would seem that he went outside of Mar- 
tha's Vineyard and Nantucket not to have discerned their 
insular character, but he could not have failed to see the 
shoals and rips, presenting another difficult question to 
answer : how could a nautical man pass those islands and 
Cape Cod, and not observe the difference of that low sandy 
coast ? How any one following the shore to Nova Scotia 
— in this instance a mariner on the look out for a strait 
opening the way to Cathay, and discovering the series of 
islands extending along Massachusetts Bay eastward to 
Cape Sable — should fail to get into the Bay of Fundy, is 
certainly beyond explanation ; more difficult indeed to 
account for, than running along the southern shores by 
daylight without finding Cape Hatteras, or a harbor in 
which a vessel could lie with safety, or not making the 
discovery of the entrances to Chesapeake and Delaware 
Bays. 

Of all that extent of coast, declared to be seven hun- 
dred leagues of unknown lands, but a single locality re- 
ceives a name, but a single latitude is stated, that of a 
region situated in the parallel of Eome, 41° 40', (true 
distance 41° 53 ; 54",) if we shall except that of the point 
of return in 50°, and of arrival on the coast in 34°, which 
may be supposed to have been guessed at rather than as- 
certained, brought sailing westward with easterly winds 
from the Desertas. After these omissions, and rising to 
so high a latitude as the northeasternmost extremity of 
Newfoundland, no surprise can ensue at a failure to ob- 
serve the great southern entrance of the Golfo Quadrado, 
(Bay of St. Lawrence,) or failing, for the discomfort of 
history, to notice a single smack of Breton or Norman 
encountered in the five degrees run of northern fisheries.* 

* Some notices exist of the number and flags of vessels employed about t h 
time in taking fish on these coasts. In the year 1527, Eutt, an English ship- 
master, wrote to Henry VIII., from Newfoundland,, that in the haven of St. 
John, where he lay, he had found eleven sail of Norman, one Breton, and two 

2 



18 

Another circumstance worthy of remark is, that of 
this whole distance of coast, that part only appears to be 
described which is precisely the country and very nearly 
the amount claimed by contemporaneous history for Spain 
as the discovery of the Portuguese, Estevan Gomez, 
made the year after, 1525 ; that is to say, in extent 
from Barnegat northward nearly to the farthermost limit 
of Nova Scotia. That pilot explored the Bay of Fundy, 
and named a great river flowing into it ; and the gulf of 
islands, lying thence westward into Massachusetts Bay, 
was called for him, on early maps, Arcliipielago de Es- 
tevan Gomez. Both voyages were also begun in winter, 
an unusual season for such enterprises in those days ; and 
that of Yerrazzano was likewise made in a caravel, if we 
are to credit the letter of Carli only. 

A portion of the letter of Verrazzano, in the copy 
from the Migiiabechia collection, is not to be found in the 
one printed by Ramusio ; it is a cosmographical exposition 
of his voyage and resumen of the extent of western dis- 
covery to that time. In it these passages occur : 

" My intention in this voyage was to reach Cathay, on the extreme coast 
of Asia, expecting, however, to find in the newly discovered land some such 
an obstacle as they have proved to be, yet I did not doubt that I should 
penetrate by some passage to the eastern ocean. It was the opinion of the 
ancients, that our oriental Indian ocean is one, without any interposing land ; 
Aristotle supports it by arguments founded on various probabilities ; but it 
is contrary to that of the moderns, and shown to be erroneous by experi- 
ence ; the country which has been discovered, and which was unknown to 
the ancients, is another world compared with that before known, being 
manifestly larger than our Europe, together with Africa, and perhaps Asia, 
if we rightly estimate its extent, as shall now be briefly explained to your 
Majesty. The Spaniards have sailed south beyond the equator on a merid- 
ian of 20 degrees west of the Fortunate Islands to the latitude of 54°, and 
there still found land. * * * Beyond this point (the 50th parallel of 
north latitude) the Portuguese had already sailed as far north as the Arctic 
circle, without coming to the termination of land. Thus adding the degrees 
of south latitude explored, which are 54, to those of the north, which are 

Portuguese. A report coming from the same bark, made at Porto Eico, to a 
Spanish officer of the sea service, was that at the Baealaos full fifty sail of 
vessels, Spanish. French, and Portuguese, had been seen. 



19 



66, the sum is 120, and therefore more than are embraced in the latitude of 
Africa and Europe, for the north point of Norway, which is the extremity 
of Europe, is in 71° north, and the Cape of Good Hope, which is the south- 
ern extremity of Africa, is in 35° south, and their sum is only 106, and if 
the breadth of this newly discovered country corresponds to its extent of 
sea coast, it doubtless exceeds Asia in size. In this way we find that the 
land forms a much larger portion of our globe than the ancients supposed, 
who maintained, contrary to mathematical reasoning, that it was less than 
the water, whereas actual experience proves the reverse, so that we judge, 
in respect to extent of surface, the land covers as much space as the water; 
and I hope more clearly and more satisfactorily to point out and explain to 
your Majesty the great extent of that new land, or new world, of which I 
have been speaking. The continent of Asia and Africa, we know for cer- 
tain, is joined to Europe at the north in Norway and Russia, which disproves 
the idea of the ancients that all this part had been navigated from the Cim- 
bric Chersonesus eastward as far as the Caspian Sea. They also maintained 
that the whole continent was surrounded by two seas situate to the east 
and west of it, which seas in fact do not surround either of the two conti- 
nents, for, as we have seen above, the land of the southern hemisphere at 
the latitude of 54° extends eastwardly an unknown distance, and that of the 
northern passing the 66th parallel turns to the east, and has no termination 
as high as the YOth." 

From the foregoing, it must appear that the writer in 
his argument refers to the southernmost discovery of Ma- 
gellan, the knowledge of which was first imparted by the 
return of the Trinidad, on the 6th of May, 1521, from 
the Straits ; but it was not known at the time that the 
entrance had an outlet westward into the Southern Ocean. 
In estimating amounts of land and water, the sea traversed 
by Magellan evidently did not enter into the account, or 
it must have considerably altered the estimate, if it did 
not give an opposite proportion. The date of this infor- 
mation, certainly the latest, was that brought by Estevan 
Gomez, the returning pilot. In the year 1524, no navi- 
gator could have been ignorant of the news of that great 
achievement, the circumnavigation of the earth, by the 
arrival in Spain, on the 6th day of September, 1522, of 
De Elcano from India, which more astonished Europe 
than had the success of Columbus even. In the Pacific, 
Magellan had crossed from west to east, without obstruc- 
tion, an extent of sea equal to nearly half the circumfer- 



20 

ence of the globe, and passed northward through seventy- 
two degrees of latitude. In that same year the islands of 
Bermuda were discovered, which strengthens, as with 
another link, the chain of argument. 

Neither the discovery, nor the name of Verrazzano, is 
to be found in the Spanish histories of this age ; but the 
name and exploit of Juan Florentin in taking the Mexi- 
can treasure, had a wide celebrity. This silence appears 
to have been first broken there at the close of the six- 
teenth century, by Alonzo de Herrera, in the Decadas de 
Indias, where he has sketched an outline of the voyage, it 
would appear from Kamusio. 

Barcia, in the Ensayo Cronologico para la Historia 
de la Florida, notices this resumen, and says, under the 
proper head of 1524, that in this year Yerrazzano, after 
having been greatly favored and honored, again went to 
sea with a stronger outfit than before, committing still 
greater ravages ; but, on his return to France, having 
encountered four vessels belonging to Biscay, his ships 
were captured and sent to Seville. Thence he and 
his captains were taken to Madrid, and after trial, having 
been adjudged public enemies and guilty of piracy, they 
were hanged at Puerto del Pico. Whatever may have 
been his fortune, certain it is from this time we hear of 
him no more. The same facts are stated in the Biblioteca 
Americana of Antonio Alcedo, MS. composed in 1807 ; 
but whether he repeats what the other has written, or 
draws from the original source, is uncertain. They are 
both authors of good repute. Barcia was of the Koyal 
Council of Castilla, held important offices, and was one of 
the founders in Spain of the Koyal Society of History. 
He drew much of the material in this work of 1723 from 
unpublished documents. Alcedo, known better for his 
Diccionario geogrctfico historico de las Indias Occiden- 
tales, a labor of twenty years, held high positions in Spain, 
such as Field Marshal and Governor of Coruna. 



21 

They who can find instruction in speculative history, 
may be gratified with a fine example of this species by 
turning to the eleventh chapter in the Memoir of Cabot, in 
which Verrazzano is supposed to have lost his life in the 
service of England. The opportunity of showing this 
was afforded on the occasion of printing the letter in ques- 
tion, thirty years after the date it bears, by a remark of 
Eamusio concerning the fate of this navigator, to the effect 
that he and others had somewhere been killed, roasted, and 
eaten by Indians, in sight of his men. It was likewise 
found, in the same year, 1527, that the Mary Guilford, of 
Liverpool, had sailed westwardly, and afterward reported 
at Porto Eico that her pilot, a native of Piedmont, had 
been slain by the natives of Bacalaos. These slight cir- 
cumstances, brought together, were assumed as sufficient 
to identify Yerrazzano in that person, record the time, and 
mark the region of his misfortune. A letter to Henry 
VIII., earlier in the year, written by the master of the 
Mary Guilford, then lying in the haven of St. John, New- 
foundland, and another by a priest on board, addressed to 
Cromwell, contain not a word in reference to that person- 
age, dead or alive.* 

Tiraboschi, too, in his exploration of Italian litera- 
ture, accidentally struck a vein that proved almost 
equally productive. It is 'a passage discovered in a 
letter of Annibal Caro, addressed at Castro to the mem- 
bers of the household of M. cli' Gaddi, treating humorously 
of his travels. In the course of his addresses to the dif- 
ferent persons, he says : "As for you, Verrazzano, a 
seeker after new worlds and their wonders, I cannot as 
yet tell you anything worthy of your map ; for we have 
not thus far passed through any country which had not 
been already discovered by you or by your brother." A 
grave objection to this letter, it will be seen, is the date, 

* Biddle : Chap. IX. Hen-era : Dee. II. lib. V. caps. III. 



22 

1537, two years after Carrier had gone on his second voy- 
age, the very lateness of which dampens every hope of a 
probable value. 

Cl Ma e degno di riflessione un passo delle Leitere di 
Annibal Caro, a cui niuno di quelli che hanno scritto del 
Verazzani, ha finor posto mente. Scrivendo egli da Cas- 
tro a' 13 di ottobre del 1537 a tutti i famigliari di Mons. 
di' Gaddi, e descrivenclo piacevolrnente un suo viaggio, e 
ragionando or con uno, o con altro de' clomestici di quel 
prelato, a voi, Verazzano, dice (Lett, famil. t. I, lett. 13), 
come a cercatore di nuovi mondi, e delle ?neravic/Ne di 
essi, non posso ancor dir cosa degna delta vostra carta, 
perclie non avemo passati terre, che non sieno state sco- 
perte da voi, o da vostro fratello. Questo passo ci mostra 
preinieramente che Giovanni avea un fratello, il quale 
ancora avea molto viaggiato e scoperti nuovi paesi. Ma 
poiche questi, di cui non sapiamo il norne proprio, e effatto 
sconosciuto agli storici di quel tempo, convien dire ch' ei 
fosse assai men celebre del fratello. E parmi percio veri- 
simile che il cercatore cle' nuovi moncli, con cui parla qui 
il caro, sia Giovanni. II che se e vero, converra dire ch' 
ei non fosse abbastanza premiato dal re di Francia, e che 
dovesse percio tomar sene in Italia, ed entrare nella fami- 
glia del Gaddi ; e che il racconto del Eamusio o sia falso, 
o certamente un tal fatto si debba ditTerire di molti anni." 
— Storia della Litteratura Italiana del Cav. Abate Girolamo 
Tiraboschi. Tomo VII., Parte I., Capo VI. 

Here are two discoverers by the name of Verrazzano, and 
one of them is assumed to be Giovanni. A slight examin- 
ation of the life and writings of Caro will show that at 
this period he was a teacher at Borne, in the family of M. 
Gaddi, an opulent Florentine. 

The following sentences succeed the one given by Tira- 
boschi, before quoted : "It has been told you already that 
in these parts we found many more animals with two feet 
than four, and many more snakes than men. We arrived 



23 

the first night at the grand villa of Monte Kuosi, of which 
I have only to tell you, that they made us a present of the 
beast sent to you, and which was caught at night follow- 
ing our caravan." * 

It will not be difficult now to account for the direction, 
and offer an explanation of the meaning of the passages 
cited : that the author, being at the time of writing absent 
from home, journeying about the country, in sportively 
addressing his pupils from Castro, makes reference to 
their studies and exercises in geography and map-making. 
The name of Verrazzano was not confined to a family any 
more than to an individual. 

From the reasoning thus brought to bear on the point 
of dates, should the authorities be deemed credible, it 
must appear that if this voyage of Verrazzano was ever 
performed, it must have been after the 6th of May, 1521, 
the day of the return of Gomez, and before the 6 th of Sep- 
tember, 1522, the day of the return of De Elcano from 
the circumnavigation of the globe. In the early part of 
1523, Juan Morentin took the treasure ships of Cortez ; 
in 1524 he was himself captured, with his fleet, some of 
the same probably which his successes of the year before 
had procured for him. We have already seen, in the be- 
ginning of his letter, that he leaves us to infer the loss of 
two of his four vessels while on a voyage of discovery to 
the north, doubtless about the close of 1523 ; of which 
enterprise, however, considerable as it was, there exists no 
trace f in the records of a great nation in the centre of 

* Query : Was the "beast" enclosed in the letter? 

t OEDEK OF EVENTS. 
Magallanes, on the 20th August, 1519, sails from Sanliiear southwestward. 
Gomez, on the 6th May, 1521, returns from the Straits of Magellan. 

De Elcano, on the 6th Sept., 1522, returns by the Cape of Good Hope. 

Verrazzano chased in 1522 from the Canaries toward Azores. 

Verrazzano, in the early part of 1523, takes the Mexican treasure at JAzores. 
Verrazzano, with four vessels, in 1523, sails northward on discovery. 
Verrazzano, on the 17th Jan., 1524, sails westward from Desertas. 

Verrazzano, on the 8th July, 1524, returns to Dieppe, in France. 

Verrazzano alleged to have been in 1524 hanged at the Canaries. 
Gomez sails from Corufia Dec, 1524, for western coast of America. 
Gomez returns in October, 1525, to Toledo, in Spain. 



24 

Europe, time and war being supposed to have carried 
away every memorial.* 

It is not the least observable circumstance in the 
history of this voyage, that it should not have been fol- 
lowed up, or remembered, during the reign in which the 
discovery is alleged to have been made, and in the long 
administration of the Marine by Chabot, from 1525 to 
1540. In the Bibliotkeque Imperiale, two volumes folio 
of his letters in manuscript, written in the year 1525, 
are preserved ; and fifteen charts there on parchment, from 
his cabinet, contain instructive lessons in the early geog- 
raphy of the sixteenth century. That minister it was 
who favored the ideas of Jacques Cartier, and presented 
his memorial to the king, proposing to make discoveries in 
the Terres-Neuves . This led to the voyages of the years 
1534, 1535, and 1540, with the settlement of Canada ; 
yet in no account of any part of that great design of state, 
nor even in the part of Eoberval, undertaken as late as 
1542, does the name of Verrazzano occur, nor is any refer- 
ence whatsoever made to his supposed discovery. If there 
were any fame of the sort, why should France choose to 
settle her population so far to the north, preferring 
the cold region her fishermen were conceded to have 
found, to the milder climate, fertile vales, and inviting 
bays and watercourses of New England and New York, 
which had been discovered by royal authority during the 
prince's reign ? 

The opinion in Spain, to which the Council of State and 
Indias arrived, upon information sent them from the Em- 
peror, is full as to their knowledge touching the supposed 
design of France to occupy the country in the year 1541, 
and the extent of French discovery up to that time : they 
say that there is no unoccupied country on the north sea, 
that has anything covetable, to which the French could 

* Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par le P. De Charlevoix : Tome Premier, 
Livre I. 



25 

go ; and should they take possession of any land there, it 
would be to relinquish it through privation. Their judg- 
ment received the sanction of the Archbishop of Sevilla, 
with the additional remark, that, in his opinion, all the 
coast to Florida, except it be the fishery, was entirely value- 
less, whence the French must return wasted, with few 
persons and little of the substance they might take out with 
them. Their aim was said to be for the country claimed to 
have been long since discovered by the Bretons ; that the 
coast south of it, was the country discovered by Estevan 
Gomez and by Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon. On the margin 
of one of these consultations is written, referring to the 
same region : 

" On old charts, some say : Lands of the Bretones, 
others, Land of Portugal ; on one, that it was discovered 
by French." * 

The earliest document to this time found, accrediting 
the discovery of Verrazzano has been brought forward by 
the Librarian of the New York Historical Society. It is 
on a copper globe made by Euphrosynus Vlpius, at Venice, 
in 1542. Over a wide extent of this country is spread 
the inscription : 

Verrazana sive nova Gallia a Verrazano Flo- 
rentino comperta anno sal. m. d. 

Within a scroll on the instrument are the words : 
" Marcello Cervino S. K. E. Presbitero Cardinali. D. D. 
Kome." 

•This record has certainly high authority in the former 
possessor's name, a man of science, taste, and equal ener- 
gy, at one time primate of Kome, and who was raised from 
a Cardinal to the Pontificate in 1554. Yet it is to be ob- 
served that though Cervino, the archbishop of Florence, was 

* Coleccion de varios docuinentos para la historia de la Florida y tierras 
adyacentes. Londres, 1857. 



26 

apostolic nuncio to France in 1539, and afterward legate to 
Charles V. in Germany, whom he accompanied into Spain, 
he appears not to have been able, with so wide opportunity 
and the influence of his positions, to determine for this 
important inscription the year of the discovery deemed to 
have been made by his fellow citizen and contemporary. 

In the preface to what is written by Laudonier, giving 
a history of the colonizing of Florida by the French, from 
the year 1561 to 1565, he speaks of the region to the 
north being called New France, from the time of the dis- 
covery of it by Yerrazzano for Francis I.; but at that 
date the letter had already been published eight or nine 
years, and he adds nothing to what may be read either 
there or in the introduction written by Ramusio. 

After a deliberate examination of these matters, it 
will probably be difficult to find a reason for believing that 
the letter in question was written by Verrazzano, or to 
expect to find any contemporaneous authority to show that 
this voyage was ever made, or even attempted. The nar- 
ration is wanting in that practical character that would 
be expected to mark the report of a pilot on discoveries, 
who, it appears, neither examined the country for the 
riches it might possess, nor the shore for the strait it 
might offer ; and, in view of our later knowledge, it is in 
the main false. The facts go far to show, that the paper 
was written at a time so far back, that the entrances of 
the coast and " lay of the land " were imperfectly or not 
at all known, and that it was dated too far forward, to be 
in proper relation with the progress of maritime discovery. 

To the emulation among the cities of Italy, may per- 
haps be ascribed the probably fictitious accounts of voy- 
ages attributed to Amerigo Yespuccio ; and to the same 
feeling we may be again indebted for this pretended letter 
of another Florentine. 

A copy of the letter of Carli, which accompanies that 
of Yerrazzano in the Migliabechia collection, is here 



27 



translated, 
lish : 



and for the first time published in Eng- 



Letter of Fernando Carli to his 
Father* 

In the name of God. 

4th day of August, 1524. 
Honored Father : 

Eemembering that when I was in 
the Barbary fleet at Garbieh, the 
news which were daily given you 
from the illustrious Sigupr Don 
Hugo de Moncada, captain-general 
of the Cesarean Majesty in those 
barbarous parts, while he was pur- 
suing and fighting the Moors of that 
island, it appears pleased our many 
correspondents and friends, and that 
you were congratulated by them on 
the victory achieved ; so, there are 
news again, recently received here, 
of the arrival of Captain Giovanni 
Verrazzano, our Florentine, at the 
port of Dieppe, in Normandy, with 
his ship, the Delfina, in which, at the 
end of January last, he went from 
the Canary Islands in search of new 
countries for this most serene crown 
of France, displaying great and very 
noble courage by engaging as he did 
in an unknown navigation, with a 
single sail, a caravel of scarcely — \ 
tons, having only fifty men, with the 
purpose, to the best of his ability, of 
discovering Cathay by taking the 
way into climates different from those 
in which the Portuguese are accus- 
tomed to make discoveries toward 

* Historic Italian Archive ; or, Col- 
lection of works and documents until 
now not published, or which have be- 
come very rare, concerning the history 
of Italy. Appendix. Volume IX. Flo- 
rence. Gio. Pietro Vieusseux, director- 
editor of his Gabineto Scientifico-Litte- 
rario. 1858. 

t The amanuensis has left out the 
number of tons burthen of the ship. 



Lettera di Fernando Carli a suo 
padre.* 

Al nome di Dio. 

a di 4 Affosto, 1524. 
Onorando padre : 

Considerando che quando fui in la 
armata di Barbaria alle Gierbe vi 
furono grate le nuove advisatevi gior- 
nalmente per lo illustre sig. Don Ugo 
di Moncada, capitano generale della 
Cesarea Maesta, in quelle barbare 
parti, seguiti certandof con li Mori 
de detta isola ; per la quale mostra- 
si haver fatto piacere a molti nostri 
padroni ed amici, e con quelli della 
conseguita vittoria congratulatovi : 
pertanto, assendo nuovamente qui 
nuova della giunta del capitano Gio- 
vanni da Verrazzano nostro fiorentino 
alio porto di Dieppa in Normandia 
con sua nave Delfina, con la quale si 
parti dalle insule Canarie fino di Gen- 
naio passato, per andare in busca di 
terre nuove per questa serenissima 
corona di Francia, in che mostro co- 
raggio troppo nobile e grande a met- 
tersi a tanto incognito viaggio con 
una sola nave che appena e una cara- 
vella di tonelli,^: — solo con 50 uomini, 
con intenzione di, giusta sua possa, 
discoprire il Cataio, tenendo cam- 
mino per altri climati di quelli usano 
li Portughesi in lo discoprire di 



* Archivo Storico Italiano ossia rac- 
colta di opere e documenti iinora ine- 
diti o divenuti rarissimi risguardanti 
la Storia d' Italia. Appendice. Touio 
IX. Firenze. Gio. Pietro Vieusseux, 
direttore-editore al suo Gabinetto Sci- 
entifico-Letterario. 1853. 

t Combattendo {Notta deW edizione 
Romana). 

% L' amanuense ha lasciato il nnme- 
ro delle tounellate di cui era capace la 
nave (Nota come sopra). 



28 



Calicut ; but going toward the north- 
west and the north, holding on his 
way so as to find some country or 
other, although Ptolemy, Aristotle, 
and other cosmographers laid down, 
that no land was to be found in the 
direction of such climates ; and thus 
by God has he been permitted to do, 
as he sets forth lucidly in a letter to 
this sacred Majesty, a copy of which 
is enclosed. After many months 
spent in navigation, he was obliged, 
as he states, for want of provisions, 
to return from that hemisphere to 
this, having been seven months on 
the voyage, indicating a very great 
and rapid passage made in the per- 
formance of an admirable and extra- 
ordinary feat, to the mind of those 
who understand the navigation of 
the globe. The commencement of 
that voyage was marked with dis- 
aster, and many thought that there 
never would be news of him, or of 
the ship; that it must be lost on the 
farther side of Norway, by reason of 
the huge ice in that northern ocean ; 
but, as that Moor said, the great God, 
to give us every day more evidences 
of his infinite power, and to show 
us how admirable is this earthly ma- 
chine, has discovered to him an ex- 
tent of land, as you will observe, so 
vast, that according to the good re- 
gions and degrees of latitude by alti- 
tude, it appears and shows itself to 
be larger than Europe, Africa, and a 
part of Asia : ergo mundus novus : 
and this is without what the Span- 
iards have these many years found in 
the west; for it is hardly a year 
since Fernando Magellanes, having 
discovered an immense country, re- 
turned in one ship of five with which 
he went out, bringing back cloves 
that are much better than common ; 
and of his other ships in five years 
no news has been heard. Thev are 



verso la parte di Calicut, ma an- 
dando verso coro e settentrione 
omnino tenendo, che ancora * Tolo- 
meo ed Aristotile ed altri cosmografi 
descrivano verso tali climati non tro- 
varsi terra, di trovarvene a ogni 
modo ; e cosi gli ha Dio concesso, 
come distintamente describe per una 
sua lettera a questa S. M. ; delta 
quale in questa ne e una copia. E 
per mancargli le vettovaglie, dopo 
molti mesi giunto navigando, assegna 
essergli stato forza .tornare da quel- 
lo in questo emisperio, e in sette mesi 
suto in viaggio mostrare grandissimo 
ed accelerato cammiuo, aver fatto 
cosa miranda e massima a chi intende 
la marinera del mondo. Delia quale 
al cominciamento di detto suo viag- 
gio si fece male inditio,f e molti pen- 
sorno che non piu. ne de lui ne del 
vascell-o si avesse nuova, ma che si 
dovesse perdere da quella banda del- 
la Norvegia per il grande diaccio che 
e per quello oceano settentrionale; 
ma come disse quel Moro, lo Die 
grande, per darci ogni giorno piu 
notizie di sua infinita possanza e 
mostrarci di quanto sia admirabile 
questa mundiale machina, gli ha dis- 
coperto una latitudine di terra, come 
intenderete, di tanta grandezza che, 
secondo le buone ragioni e gradi, per 
latitudine (et) altezza, assegna emos- 
tra piu grande che TEuropa, Africa e 
parte di Asia : ergo mundus novus : 
e questo senza lo che % hanno disco- 
perto in piu anni gli Spani per l'occi- 
dente, che appena e un anno torno 
Ferrando Magaghiana, quale disco- 
perse grande paese con una nave me- 
no delle cinque § a discoprire. Donde 

* Ancorche. 

+ L' ediz. romanaha indizio, macre- 
diamo per errore di stampa. 

X Quello che (Acta come sopra). 

§ Forse venne qui omesso ite o sim- 
ile; e sembra accenarsi al naut'ragio di 
una di quelle cinque navi. 



29 



supposed to be lost. "What our cap- 
tain brought, he does not mention in 
his letter, except a young man of 
those countries made captive ; but 
it is believed that he has brought a 
specimen of gold, in that region of no 
value, of drugs and other aromatic 
liquors, to confer with many mer- 
chants here, after having been in the 
presence of his Most Serene Majesty, 
where he should be at this hour ; and 
from there to come here soon, for 
he is much desired for his conversa- 
tion, the more because he will see 
his Mnjesty, our Sire, who is expect- 
ed to arrive within three or four 
days ; and we hope that his Majesty 
will once more send him half a dozen 
good vessels to make the voyage 
again. And if our Francisco Carli 
shall have returned from Cairo, be 
assured he will adventure himself 
with him on said voyage, and I be- 
lieve they know each other at Cairo, 
where he has been many years, as 
well as in Egypt and Soria, and nearly 
throughout the known world ; and 
from here, on account of his merit, 
he is esteemed another Amerigo 
Vespucci, another Fernando Megal- 
lanes, and even more ; and we hope 
that by providing himself with 
other good ships and vessels well 
commanded and victualled as requi- 
site, he will find some profitable 
traffic and business ; and he will do, 
our Lord God sending him life, honor 
to our country by acquiring immor- 
tal fame and memory. And Alda- 
retto Brunelleschi, who went with 
him, and unfortunately turned back, 
unwilling to follow him farther, 
when he there hears of it will not be 
well pleased. Nothing else now oc- 
curs to me ; since by others I have 
advised you of what is necessary. 
I commend myself to you continual- 



addusse garofani molto piu eccellenti 
delli soliti ; e le altre sue nave in 5 
anni mai nuova ci e trapelata. Sti- 
mansi perse. Quello* eke questo 
nostro capitano abbia condotto non 
dice per questa sua lettera, salvo 
uno uomo giovanetto preso di quel- 
li paesi ; ma stimansi che abbia por- 
tato mostra di oro, piocbe da quelle 
bande non lo stimano, e di droghe 
e di altri liquori aromatici, per 
conferire qua con molti merca- 
tanti di poi che sara stato alia pre- 
senza della Serenissima Maesta. E a 
questa ora doverra esservi, e di qua 
trasferirsi in breve, perche e molto 
desiato, per ragionare seco ; tanto 
piu che trovera qui la Maesta del Re 
nostro sire, che fra tre o quattro gi- 
orni vi si attende : e speriamo che S. 
M. lo rimetta di mezza dozzina di 
buoni vascelli, e che torner& al viag- 
gio. E se Francesco Carli nostri si 
fosse tornato dal Cairo, advisate che 
alia ventura vorra andare seco a det- 
to viaggio, e credo si conoschino al 
Cairo dove e stato piu anni ; e non 
solo in Egitto ed Soria, ma quasi per 
tutto il cognito mondo ; e di qua me- 
diante sua virtu e stimato un altro 
Amerigo Vespucci, un altro Ferrando 
Magaghiana, e devantaggio ; e spe- 
riamo che rimontandosi delle altre bu- 
one navi e vascelli ben conditi e vet- 
tovagliati come si richiede, abbia ad 
iscoprire qualche profittoso traffico e 
fatto ; e fara, prestandogli nostro 
Signore Dio vita, onore alia nostra 
patria da acquistarne immortale fama 
e memoria. E Alderotto Brunelles- 
chi che parti con lui, e por fortuna 
tornando indietro non volse piu se- 
guire, come di costa lo intende, sara 

* Nella romana si legge : "stimansi 
per se quello ec." ; ma ci sembra che 
il senso giustifichi abbastanza la nostra 
correzione. 



30 

ly, praying you to mention me to our malcontento. Ne altro per ora mi 

friends, not forgetting Pierfranciseo occorre, perche per altre vi ho avvi- 

Dagaghiano,* who being a studious sato il bisogno. A voi di continuo 

person does not idle much time, and mi raccomando, pregandovi ne facci- 

to him recommend me ; also to ate parte agli amici nostri, non di- 

Rustichi, who will not be dis- menticando Pierfrancesco Dagaghi- 

pleased (if he should take delight as a no,* c he per essere persona perita, 

formerly) in hearing of matters con- tengo che ne prender& grande passa- 

cerning cosmography. May God tempo ; ed a lui mi raccomanderete. 

guard you from all evil. Simile al Rustichi, al quale non dis- 

Your son, piacer & se si diletta, come suole, inten- 

Fernando Carli, dere cose di cosmografia. Che Dio 

in Lyons. tutti di male Ti guardi. 

* Perhaps Gagliano. Vostro figluolo * 

Fernando Carli * 
in Lione. 

* Forsc, da Gagliano. 

This is a strange letter to be written at the date and 
place it claims ; strange, not for any facts it may contain, 
but for the absence at such a time of all allusion to any 
of the stirring incidents that were passing around Lyons, 
in the great struggle of the League with the Emperor- 
King. Carli speaks of Hugo Moncada ; but says nothing 
of a naval engagement, that had occurred four days be- 
fore, in which the Spanish general was met by Doria at 
the mouth of the Var, lost three gallies by sinking, and 
was driven from the coasts of France. The news, in its 
transmission to the capital, should have reached Lyons, 
only one hundred and sixty miles from the scene of action. 
Eleven clays before, the Bonne reine expired at Chateau 
de Blois, from which the writer was but three hundred 
miles distant, on the direct road to Florence ; and yet 
no allusion is made to an occurrence of so deep regret 
to the French people as the decease of Claude de France. 
No longer than thirteen clays before, an army with 
Francis at its head was marching to the assistance of 
the Provencal from Tours, distant only three hundred and 
fifty miles from Lyons ; but the subject is not even re- 
motely hinted at, though that city lay not much out of 



31 

the course thither. The stupidity of this letter nearly 
recommends it for good faith ; as to the other, attributed 
to Verrazzano, whatever may have been his ability as a 
navigator, or his merit as a discoverer, that document fur- 
nishes no evidences of either. 



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